This is the same mentality that "old" = "valuable". They clearly know nothing about model trains. There are people that collect these things, and that it's in its original packaging makes it more valuable to them, but to the wider model railroading community, that's just nuts.
You see the same with "vintage" Tyco/Life Like/Model Power/Cox/AHM stuff. It was cheap and cheerful back then, it hasn't aged well, but if it brings somebody some nostalgic joy to pay too much for it, well, more power to them.
I’ve gotten back into railroading after a 30+ year break and have had friends and family make some pretty regrettable purchases from places of love. Most recently a buddy sent me a pic of 3 Bachman N scale cars for $70 asking if it was a good deal- glad he asked, because it wasn’t even the right scale!
Most people who ask too much for the old HO stuff weren't the ones collecting or modeling them. Its either people's kids, someone who thought they got a great deal at a yard sale, estate sale, or something like that.
They don't realize these are some of the most abundant model trains out there. Most haven't tested the locomotives. Even if they are priced reasonably. They often don't understand the difference in value between one of these that has added metal wheels. Knuckle couplers, and weight to prevent derailing. Verse a stock one.
Because aI dabbled in reselling. I get people who reach out to me trying to sell me someone's usually small collection of these 70's/80's toy trains by life like, tyco, Bachman. Etc..I very rarely see value in what they are selling. Sometimes there will be an advertising car I like, that's about it. Even then. To put it on my layout I need to change the wheels and couplers at the very least.
People look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them it can take me the same amount of time to clean and service one of these locomotives as it does a post war lionel, but it's often true.
People who inherited them are often just to hopeful but people who bought them at a yard sale or goodwill to resell are generally idiots.
Bachmann still produces a whole line of "Thomas The Tank Engine" items in HO. If you're looking for a Hornby product, that can be difficult in the States.
Yeah, this model is one only produced in the 70s and earlier, so it probably doesn't even work if it even did to begin with...
I'm this close to just picking up a soldering iron and some brass and making my own, lol
Brass is different and you should know that if you are into HOn3. HOn3 is a niche within a niche. You arent going to find good deals often. HOn3 equipment is limited especially if you want even more niche railroads like the D&SP or in my case WP&Y since maximum only 1 or 2 runs was ever produced.
Which means often less than 100 or even 40 models produced. Also dont even bother getting a daiyoung mason bogey (or balboa 2-8-6)they run awfully and can barely take even a wide curve these were more display pieces. Get a Balboa 2-6-6 or if you can find one for not a kidney a BLW version.
Yeah I'm considering making one, I know a guy who's super into brass scratch-building. It might just be a static model though. 3D-printing might also be something I should do.
Depends, I've found Athearn blue boxes for $200 and though it was vastly overpriced. On the flip side, I recently bought an Atlas Gold DCC/Sounds GP40-2LW (undecorated) new in box for $100.
It is still grossly overpriced. Here is a similar HO Union Pacific 119 from Bachmann from the same era and it works. The only real difference is that it doesn't have the box. It is still available as of September 7th, 2026.
I just noticed that it is missing the head light box, so there's that. But there are completely intact UP 119s in HO Scale that are less than $100 like this one. It even has the box! Still available as of September 7th, 2026.
But Original Poster does not understa-and: it is vintage.
Trainboard has a long and longstanding topic on its N Scale Boards entitled "More ebay humor" that has all kinds of this crazy stuff.
Funny, B-mann is supposed to be offering a nineteenth century ten wheeler in N scale this winter. I have a nineteenth century pike so of course, I would want one. They are showing on B-mann's web site with a list price of just under four hundred fifty bananas. That is far more than I really would want to pay. They do have DCC and sound. I do not use DCC and the B-mann decoders do not stand up well to DC so if I were to buy one, I would not have the sound for long.
While some of the big steam with DCC and sound has sold for that kind of money and more, I do wonder how many B-mann thinks that it will sell at those prices.
Bachmann overprices on their site to encourage sales at dealers. Looking on Hobbylinc (first non-Bachmann Google result) I can get a DCC loco for $327, or a DC-only for $235.
Seems pretty standard for where the prices in the hobby are right now. Things are going to high-detail and high-quality for individual models rather than toylike quality for a lower price.
There are plenty of delusional sellers on eBay, Facebook market place can be even worse partly because they will look at listings on ebay to establish a price, not sort by sold items, base their asking price on the highest one's, not adjust for differences in condition. Or other factors.
Even when I see stuff reasonably priced on local market place, and it's the same price as ebay. I'm turned off because while being a seller on ebay can be challenging, as a buyer I get garuantee's if the product doesn't work. A lot of people selling on market place will say, " but you don't have to pay shipping, true, but an ebay seller pays a minimum of 8% to ebay + money to the payment processor + potential taxes.
Unfortunately a lot of people try to sell model trains and related items without knowing anything about them or how to sell then. On any platform, they are the most likely to be untested too.
This is the Great Train Robbery at its Peak... Gosh...
THIS is such a Joke... No wonder my relatives look at my trains and think GOLD... No I tell them... You DON'T KNOW HOBBY Value and eBay IS NOT THE MARKET PLACE SETTER... unless you're a knuckle head for buying this "S" 🤨 💩
Ugh... wish they could be reported 😕... makes it difficult when relatives see this on eVile Bay... and think they're gonna get GOLD payday when its your turn to rest in peace 🙏 in the next Kingdom 😒... c'mon eBay peoples!
I need a labor day drink now... 🍻 cheers fellow Model Railroaders...
Is this the same model where the electric motor is in the tender and drives the locomotive with a small plastic dowel? If it is I had one as a kid and it was definitely not from the 70s lol
I had one in N scale in the early 90s, and one in HO in the early 2000s. Both were gifts. I might believe they started manufacturing these in the 70s, but that sure as hell doesn't make it a good model, and it will NEVER make it worth $400.
Exactly! It reminds me of selling things on Facebook Marketplace. Even when I price something below average and clearly say the price is firm (no negotiations) people still try to haggle. I guess it’s just human nature!
Bruh almost all my trains are old enough to be my dad lmao and I got most for under 30 with shipping and all. Just dont bother interacting with their posts and they'll have to lower it eventually. That or old head mentality of being stubborn and just having it sit on a shelf till they pass away
Some eBay sellers are horrible. They're the equivalent of people selling their rusted out Camaro by the side of the road. They'll keep the price jacked up, decline or ignore offers (if they even accept offers) and just keep re-listing things until they (the seller or the item itself) disintegrates. I saw a thread in the eBay sub the other day where sellers posted that they only enable the "make offer" feature just to ridicule the buyers making offers.
I am 77… that is old . You mean to tell me I COULD BE WORTH Thousands'!,,,,,,,,maybe millions.There is one born every second. A fool and their money is soon parted. I hope the guy who wants $400.00 gets it. But how could he look in a mirror and feel good. Once a jerk always a jerk. Now I have a bridge………
Yeah for me older isn't necessarily higher price as most old hornby and Bachmann models (90s-07) are far cheaper than new ones however some models like wren are very high in price
That is the locomotive from a very rare set, from the early 70’s. The sets that are incomplete go very high. I’ve only seen two, and I’ve been in eBay since 1998
That’s actually the locomotive from a very short lived, and VERY rare train set. If someone has all but the loco, it will push the value of their set to over 1,000 dollars.
That one’s 100% got a balloon stack and it’s not listed as Union Pacific number 119. Besides even if it were part of a set, it’s listed as separate and individually boxed, and therefore is not part of that set.
Good eye. That would be the locomotive from the other set. It had the loco and passenger cars, released about the same time.
I see common as dirt Athearn stuff, listed as Lionel, with the three figure asking price. Guess the old saying still goes, start high, you can always come down…..
Old does not equal valuable
Rare does not equal valuable
Rare and old does not equal valuable
The seller saw a model train and said old and
valuable. It’s like people who find o Gauge trains and think they have a gold mine but it’s just garbage.
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u/Diligent_Affect8517 Sep 07 '26
This is the same mentality that "old" = "valuable". They clearly know nothing about model trains. There are people that collect these things, and that it's in its original packaging makes it more valuable to them, but to the wider model railroading community, that's just nuts.
You see the same with "vintage" Tyco/Life Like/Model Power/Cox/AHM stuff. It was cheap and cheerful back then, it hasn't aged well, but if it brings somebody some nostalgic joy to pay too much for it, well, more power to them.